Delmundo/News
A quiet residential block on 237th St. in Queens Village allegedly held a forrest of marijuana plants being harvested by firefighter Patrick Murray.

Roca/News
Patrick Murray

Queens pot bust among biggest ever, say feds

Federal agents arrested a New York City firefighter who was allegedly growing more than 100 marijuana plants in the basement of a rented house in Queens, authorities said.

Patrick Murray, 34, is a suspected member of a drug trafficking crew that produces hydroponic marijuana in various "grow houses" in Queens and distributes the pot throughout the New York area, according to a complaint unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Cops received an anonymous tip phoned into the 105th Precinct yesterday that Murray was moving high-powered lights out of a house on 237th St. in Queens Village and loading them onto a U-Haul truck. The special lights are used to grow marijuana indoors, said DEA special agent Diette Ridgeway.

Murray was sitting in the U-Haul truck when cops approached him and asked what he was doing, the complaint states.

The firefighter claimed he was just making a U-turn in the driveway, but cops knocked on the door of the house and a tenant told them Murray had been moving items out of the basement, which reeked of marijuana.

The cops followed the strong smell of pot wafting from the basement and found the plants growing in an unlocked room. The off-duty firefighter was also carrying keys to three doors in the house.

The stash has a street value of more than $500,000, authorities said.

Murray was already under investigation by the DEA for the marijuana operation and was taken into federal custody. A second firefighter could also be charged.

The five-year veteran is assigned to Engine 292 on Queens Blvd. in Woodside, Queens. He has been suspended without pay and is scheduled to be arraigned today. If convicted, he faces five to 40 years in prison.

A Department of Forestry seasonal firefighter is in jail this morning on charges of felony child abuse of his 2-month-old son, the Fresno County Sheriff's Department reported today.

Bryon Chadwick Bramwell, 26, of Clovis was arrested Thursday at Children's Hospital Central California, where his son was being treated for severe head injuries.

There was no immediate word this morning on the boy's condition today.

According to the sheriff's department report, Bramwell allegedly hit the boy at his home in the 5500 block of North Academy Avenue east of Clovis. Bramwell and the boy's mother started CPR and called 911.

The boy was taken to Clovis Community Hospital then transferred to Children's, where sheriff's deputies had been called by doctors to investigate the case as possible child abuse.

Bramwell is being held on $275,000 bail.

Two other children in the Bramwell home were placed with other family members

How is it a "black eye" for you out there in California?? I guess about as much as it is for us when that fire investigator from California I saw on a national news story a few years ago who was lighting fires up and down the California coast on his way to confrences?

Come on guys could you expect anything less from this keyboard hero.His life revolves around a freakin internet firehouse forum. 24-7 he's lives for this forum. This place makes him feel like he really fits in with the brothers.

It is no more a black eye for my department in Wisconsin than something happening of similar scope on the west coast is.

Not everything bad that a firefighter does is even known about in other parts of the country.

Exactly! Do you really think when Joe Public reads a story like this, he immediatly thinks "wow....the firemen around this country are out of control"?? You've got to be kidding me! What a bunch of Drama Queens!

"Federal agents arrested a New York City firefighter who was allegedly growing more than 100 marijuana plants in the basement of a rented house in Queens, authorities said."

And you expect people to think that this is anything less than you trying to put a stick in the eye of the FDNY guys? They can tell you better than I, but don't they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 members? I would imagine that with a department that large, there are one or two guys who aren't exactly Eagle Scouts.

With that said, this guy broke the law. With luck, he'll lose his job, go to jail and the system will have worked. As long as we don't start asking for twinkies and cheetos on medical runs, I don't think anyone is going to think firefighters in my department grow pot just become some moron in NYC did.

Too bad it wasn't in your department, your company and you are the one who was caught!!

Take your Metamucil and QTIP Oldtimer. Maybe you need a digital TV coupon and some FD to install it for you. In case you hadn't seen the news there are people in Cali who would like to legalize and tax Marijuana to help offset their financial woes.

Hey none of us likes seeing the word "firefighter" in a headline associated with a crime, but who the hell do we think we are? Are we not regular people like carpenters, teachers, auto workers, cops and whoever? I'm sure no one who sees their job as a profession likes to see another from the same get labeled and put on the front page. Get over it, no one really believes 100% of us are heroes!

Too bad it wasn't in CA, where he could just sell the pot, pay taxes on it and help their deficit. Oh, have they passed that law yet?

Like they say- Ignorance is bliss. No such law or motion.

So I re-post a national article from another bulleting board where ALL Firefighters were getting heat for this one. And you guys kill the messenger because it involved a member of the department that most here worship? Give me a break. If a CA Fireifghter got busted for growing weed, you girls would be all over it.

I have posted black eye articles from my state here too- From harrassment and drinking on the job, to fire bombing a union brother's car to the sexual cartoon from the Sac Bee. YOU guys have posted plenty of articles on CA was well over the years. From the San Diego gay pride parade to our Arson Investigator going to prison. What a bunch of hipocrites. A black eye goes a long way for everyone.

And I ask you- How many times have we read- "Firefighter busted for Arson" in here? Too many times to count. Shall I post the links?

I SUGGEST LOOKING AT YOURSELF BEFORE YOU CAST STONES ON OTHERS.

A little history lesson for you for the ignorant fools on now crying over this. Several years ago, The Sacramento Bee published a cartoon that not only slammed our local Firefighters after a couple of sexual type incidents, but slammed the nation's Firefighters as well. Well, I posted that little gem in here that shamed us locally and it took off on the national level. Enough to where the IAFF President needed to make a national public announcement.

Yes, I have aired my states dirty laundry here. A black eye to the fire service is a black to us all. Now if a member of the FDNY was growing weed with the common intentions to sell it....who do you think it going to buy the product? Kids. Kis like your own. But hey, he's FDNY so its ok for him to sell weed to kids. Ok, I get it now. But if a CA Firefighter did, hell would rain down in here. Hypocrites.

By the way, to back up what I am saying, I will post the FH.com link here with the cartoon that set off a nation. And here is is.

WE are all in this together. When a brother screws up like this, we all take a hit. The public doesnt see decals on truck doors or shoulder patches. All they see it "Firefighter arrested for...." and they look at all of us. We need to police ourselves and protect all of our public image.

If youre gonna dish it out, make sure you can take it. Bunch of cry babies.

A Department of Forestry seasonal firefighter is in jail this morning on charges of felony child abuse of his 2-month-old son, the Fresno County Sheriff's Department reported today.

Bryon Chadwick Bramwell, 26, of Clovis was arrested Thursday at Children's Hospital Central California, where his son was being treated for severe head injuries.

There was no immediate word this morning on the boy's condition today.

According to the sheriff's department report, Bramwell allegedly hit the boy at his home in the 5500 block of North Academy Avenue east of Clovis. Bramwell and the boy's mother started CPR and called 911.

The boy was taken to Clovis Community Hospital then transferred to Children's, where sheriff's deputies had been called by doctors to investigate the case as possible child abuse.

Bramwell is being held on $275,000 bail.

Two other children in the Bramwell home were placed with other family members

That jackass was CDF??? Funny, the local news here failed to mention that. I hope he gets life without the possibility of being seperated from his new cell husband.

Come on guys could you expect anything less from this keyboard hero.His life revolves around a freakin internet firehouse forum. 24-7 he's lives for this forum. This place makes him feel like he really fits in with the brothers.

Look who is talking. You must be here enough to notice. I guess I must get under your think skin enough to take note. Too bad you never posts something postive in here.

I suggest next time not giving out bad advice and information in the hiring forum and you wont get jumped by the borthers in here. And crying about a job you lost in the past didnt fly either with them.

Sorry to you got dog piled, but your crying and bad advice didnt win the members over. Your f*ck up is not my problem. Get over it, grow up and get a pair already.

How is it a "black eye" for you out there in California?? I guess about as much as it is for us when that fire investigator from California I saw on a national news story a few years ago who was lighting fires up and down the California coast on his way to confrences?

It isnt a black eye for you......stop being so dramatic.

Matty- Please let me clue you in young green one. Everytime a Firefighter (Paid or Volly) makes a negative headline, the public doesnt see "Springfield" or "Los Angeles" or "Weeville"...they just see "FIREFIGHTER ARRESTED!"

They public doesnt know see the area or thier status. The good image and name esatablish by all of us over the years get slowly eroded away with every neagitve headline. The subject of DUIs alone is not good for us. We need to not only police ourselves, but each other.

All the "atta boys" get knocked down by one "oh crap". Its not good business for us when we try to ask for money for better equipment, gear or stations. Negative headlines hurts all of the nation's Firefighters.